Musée Souleiado

Souleiado, the last of the Indians Our story begins at the end of the 16th century. Cotton fabrics from India arrived in the port of Marseille in very bright colors. These cotton fabrics impressed merchants with their unalterable dyeing, as washing only brought out the colors, and they were destined for both the domestic and export markets. In 1806, Jean Jourdan set up an Indian factory in the Capuchin convent in the center of Tarascon, called Manufacture Jourdan. In 1821, faced with financial difficulties, he sold the convent to the town, which built a theater there that is still in use today, and moved his business to the Hôtel d?Aiminy, at the same time setting up a printed handkerchief factory in St Etienne du Grès. He was succeeded in 1840 by his son Mathieu, who ran the business until his death in 1882. It was then taken over by one of the last remaining Indian merchants, Paul Véran, anxious to secure a production base at a time when factories were closing one after the other, and when the people of Provence were moving away from their traditional costumes. Year after year, the Véran factory enriched its collection of drawings and printing plates by taking over the archives of companies that were disappearing, and in particular those of Foulc, a leading Indian manufacturer in Avignon. When he died in 1916, the Véran factory was the last indienneur in Provence. Paul left his 5 workers orphans. It was a Beaucaire pharmacist, Charles Henri Deméry, who literally fell in love with the factory and decided to save it. Thanks to him, the factory survived and prospered. When, in 1937, he sold the Véran factory, which had become the Deméry factory, to his nephew Charles Deméry, it had 10 employees. Charles, a young civil engineer who had come from Paris to stay with his uncle, also fell in love at first sight. He threw himself into the adventure, with strength and energy, and in 1939 created the Souleiado brand, Provençal for "ensoleillade", the moment when the sun breaks through the clouds after the rain. Charles?s wife Hélène was an excellent dressmaker, and when in 1947 a good customer, Mme Vachon from Saint-Tropez, asked her to develop a dress collection for her, she jumped at the chance. She jumped at the chance. It was a huge success. In 1950, an Italian customer in Florence had the idea of opening a boutique under the SOULEIADO name, the first of many. After Hélène's death, Charles courageously continued on his own. A tireless traveler, by 1952 the company had over 300 employees spread over 4 sites: manual printing at the Hôtel d?Aiminy in Tarascon, mechanical printing in Saint-Etienne du Grès, the sewing workshops in Avignon on rue Thiers and the head office at the Hôtel de Provence in Tarascon!